Who would think that an exhibition of disco would interest people? Not me, that’s for sure. Thirty years ago I dismissed that glittering style: too loud music, dumb lyrics, frenetic movements, strobe lights and lots of sequins. It was all too giddy for me. But, voilà, here’s the surprise: Disco is a museum show and I suppose the idea is that it has a responsibility to enlighten as well as entertain.
O.K.!
So I went to see “Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights” at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center (shame on them!). The exhibition features lighted display cases and title cards with bits and pieces of the disco mystique: album covers, club souvenirs, movie posters, party photos and clothes by Norma Kamali and Danskin. I’m not even mentioning the bass-heavy dance music and cocaine, the drug that went with it. Perhaps that’s part of why it made so many people happy-for a time. Recently I saw a rerun on cable of “Saturday Night Fever” and I did enjoy John Travolta’s fabulous dancing. His white three-piece suit is at the exhibition under glass. Admittedly, I still do the dance from that time: the hustle. It’s an energetic, fun dance (good exercise too!). At any rate, “Disco: A Decade of Saturday Nights” is free, so if you’re in an “I love the 70s”-style nostalgia then, of course, go and enjoy.
* * * * To segue from the ridiculous to the sublime, from disco to truly timeless music, think George Gershwin. Why do we still listen to his music? Perhaps we listen because when we hear Gershwin we know the tunes even when we don’t know exactly what it is we know. When the New York City Ballet Orchestra launches into its Gershwin ballet, “Who Cares?,” the audience inevitably starts to sway and bits of lyric escape into the air, uncontainable, from people who don’t realize they have begun to sing.
An amazing fact from the Gershwin biography is that at age 12, George simply sat down at the piano and songs poured out of his playing. At that age he had never studied a note. True genius!
George Gershwin will always remain the voice of the American soul. To quote him, ” . . . that soul is black and white-all colors and all souls unified.”
* * * * One of the many rewards for writing this column is that I can vent frustrations I feel I share with my readers. This time it’s what has happened to the telephone in this Internet era. Have you tried recently to reach customer service (hopefully such a service still exists)? Forget live assistance. It feels as if we now live in a world devoid of humans. It appears that companies are more anxious to sell things than in helping solve problems. Sometimes I feel as if I’m dealing with a ghost. I assume that there are people back there somewhere but their purpose isn’t to provide customer service, but to keep the customer at arm’s length. If you’re eligible for AARP then you can remember the days before touchtone phones when a customer service phone number was promptly answered by a friendly voice. You’d ring the number up and a person would pick it up and ask you, “What can we do for you?” To younger folks, it’s as if I’m describing life on Mars.
At any rate, I have discovered a couple of tricks for reaching a human being without being confronted with the labyrinthine menus that accompany most phone-based systems. Punch “zero” even when the option isn’t offered or pretend to have a rotary-dial phone. It frequently works quite nicely.
A hale and hearty Bayonne couple, Rita and Joe Bawiec, ventured forth on one of those frigid, snowy days we endured this winter to go to the New York state theater at Lincoln Center in Manhattan to attend a matinee performance of the New York City Ballet.
Happily, they felt it was worth the arduous trip. I always feel rewarded too. It’s a great pleasure to see new ballets as well as the established masterpieces. Recently I saw two, one by Jerome Robbins of Broadway fame and the other by Peter Martins, the ballet master-in-chief.
Robbins’ “Fanfare” is set to Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” Introduced by a witty, colorfully-clad major domo, it actually is a didactic illustration through music and dance of the instruments of the orchestra. It’s a great ballet for young people. A five year-old boy sitting in front of me showed his appreciation of the humor, the dancing and the colorful costumes by clapping and laughing loudly. I enjoyed his enjoyment.
Another winner is Peter Martins’ “Stars and Stripes.” It’s a cheerful paean to marching bands and turn-of-the-last-century social dance. With music by John Philip Sousa, it set my foot tapping. The red, white and blue costumes plus the backdrop of the American flag heightened my awareness of my love for our wonderful country.
P.S. A pair of ballet toe shoes cost $60 and the dancers can go through as many as three pairs per day during the performance season. No wonder tickets to the New York City Ballet are costly.